


the mountaintop

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hiking, Inhumans (Marvel), Kissing in the Rain, Male-Female Friendship, Nightmares, Older Man/Younger Woman, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 03:03:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14607837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Post S5. Daisy saves the world and Coulson is still there to help pick up the pieces.





	the mountaintop

"You really want to get to that mountaintop."

She stops for a moment and adjusts the pack on her shoulders, and turns around to look at him behind her coming up the trail.

"We can take a break," she says, sliding the backpack off her shoulders and dropping it to the ground.

"I'm not that tired," he says, while he catches his breath, giving her a serious look, then he follows her, sliding his bag off his back as well. "Okay, I'm tired."

He sits down on a nearby rock and slides the bottle of water out, then unscrews it, taking a long sip.

"It's pretty out here," Daisy tells him, squinting and looking out from the elevation point they're at, then looking up above them to see how far they still have to go.

"I never got the chance to see this place," he tells her. "You said this was the view that-"

"Everyday," she tells him. "They saw it everyday. And for awhile, it kept them safe."

She makes a motion for him to scoot aside so she can sit next to him on the rock, looking at him stretching his bare legs out in front of him. "You know, you don't have to go all the way with me."

"I wouldn't go all the way if I wasn't asked," he says with a cocky smirk, leaning back on the rock and closing his eyes in the sunlight.

For a moment she stays silent, considering him. "Did I ever tell you that, when I was here, I moved this mountain? With my powers."

"No, you didn't," he says, tenting his fingers over his eyes so he can see her. "What was that like?"

"It was totally new. Elemental. Like dealing with the Gravitonium in a way," she answers, drawing her knees up to her chest. "But, without a bunch of rage monsters living inside of it wanting control."

"I can only imagine," he agrees, sitting up to be beside her. "But you're the only person I trust with that kind of power."

She gives him a shy smile. "It was just there, you know? And it wasn't angry or confused. It was solid. Kind of like you," she tells him, bumping her shoulder up against him.

"Also stubborn like me, I'm sure," he nods, ducking his head.

"The mountain needed less convincing," she tells him, getting to her feet, as his eyes look up to follow her.

She swings the pack back onto her back, and dusts the dirt off her shorts and tank, securing the straps, as he stuffs his bottle back inside and puts his on, too.

"Ready?" she asks him.

"I'm following your lead."

She turns around with a smile on her face, heading back up the trail.

  
###

  
The top of the mountain is windy, but they can see the entire valley from here. The rolling hills and seas of grass.

It's the highest point and the sun is starting to disappear, casting a red-golden glow over everything, illuminating all of the clouds.

It almost takes his breath away, but then he sees Daisy looking out over it, and that does.

"I kept the Earth from being torn apart, but it still wasn't enough," she tells him, pushing her hair off her face.

"When we get them back, they'll have an Earth to come back to," he tells her. "That's something."

She turns towards him, and reaches her hand out, touching his shoulder. "I'm glad you stayed with me."

He follows her gaze to another hilltop, a bare area there. He knows it must be where Afterlife once stood.

"I never expected to come to the end, only to start over again," he tells her.

It seems unfair that others are gone but he has yet another life to live. That Daisy is still here with him. That she has had to experience so much loss.

"And it gives me hope," she says. "That we don't have to accept fate, or this plan that the Kree wrote into our DNA, or deals with the devil. We can fight it."

She's never told him that before, that saving him was an act of defiance against bigger forces at work, but it's Daisy. It makes sense.

"Yes," he tells her, reaching for her hand, taking it in his. "We'll still be the SHIELD."

Her fingers give his a little squeeze and she looks at the spot on the nearby hill again. "They were never going to be safe there. Hiding. It couldn't last forever."

"Is this your way of telling me you want to come out of the shadows?"

"We can't keep running," she sighs. "Inhumans can help to fix this."

"I'm glad to be alive to see it," he tells her, watching the fading sunlight glance off her brown eyes.

"Hey, you're not off the hook," she tells him with a smirk. "I need a partner."

"I'm only human," he teases.

"Exactly."

  
###

  
When she unzips her tent, the fire is barely going, Coulson is still awake, looking up at the night sky.

"Aren't you tired?" she asks him, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand and stepping out.

"I was just waiting for the fire to go out," he says sleepily, blinking over at her. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yes," she says soberly, nodding her head at him, knowing he must've heard it. "Sorry. It's what my brain does after stuff like this. After Hive it was worse."

"Don't be sorry. I can make us a coffee," he suggest. "We can stay up together."

"Yeah?" she asks, finding herself smiling. "That would be nice."

He starts to get to work getting the stuff out of his pack and she watches him and then stokes the fire to get it going some more, listening to the sounds around them.

She hasn't tried to use her powers since her last fight. There's nothing different about her medically, but it almost feels like they're buried inside of her somewhere.

Like how she was before Terragenesis. It's hard to say if she misses them right now, or if it's just that she needs a break.

He sets the pot on the embers and empties the water into it, then adds the grinds to it and watches it for steam, then leans across towards her to hand her a cup.

Instead she stands up and takes it from his hand, then walks past him to sit on the ground beside him.

Staring at the mug, she waits until he takes the pot off the fire and pours the thick coffee into her mug first.

"Thanks," she tells him, taking a first sip, then looking up at the stars, not a cloud in the sky. "Nice night."

"Oh, I almost forgot," he says to her, setting his cup down and then reaching into the pocket of his vest. "Here. This is for you."

"Chocolate?" she asks, a little surprised, taking the bar out of his hand.

"Maybe slightly warm and sweaty," he apologizes, almost laughing as she starts to unwrap it.

"I'll take my chances," she says, breaking off a square and biting into it. "Mmm. Tastes great with this coffee."

"It won't fix anything, but it might make it a little better," he says, breaking off some for himself and eating it, humming at the taste of it.

"Thank you. For taking care of me," she says, watching the fire get a second wind.

"I could say the same," he answers.

  
###

  
There is a rustling of leaves, and it's as though his body anticipates it by the sound first, drawing his arm up protectively around her shoulder.

As he realizes that it's Daisy's shoulder. Still asleep, curled against him on the ground where they drifted off near the fire.

He looks down and round and everything in the camp is still intact, nothing blown over that he can see in the moonlight, but the weather is changing rapidly.

"Daisy," he says, shaking her gently awake. "The wind is picking up."

The sky above them is cloudier than it was earlier in the evening. It looks like it might storm. He remembers Daisy warning him that the weather could be unpredictable here because of the mountains.

"Okay," she says, looking between them, at her hand resting on the front of his shirt, like she's drawing warmth from him, as she gets to her feet and then offers a hand to help him up. He dusts off his clothing and feels a raindrop hit the top of his head.

"Well, goodnight," he tells her, standing in the space between their two tents.

"Goodnight," she replies, as he watches rain start to splash on her shoulders, wondering why neither of them are moving yet. He doesn't want to leave.

Daisy moves first, and then her mouth is on his, her hands against his face, holding him close. Warm and loving, and making him feel needed, and of course it is Daisy.

It was always Daisy.

She pulls them apart only to stare at them both getting soaked in the rain, smiling at her handiwork, as he grabs her hand, pressing his thumb into her palm.

"My tent?" he asks her. "I did try to think of everything."

When she nods he pulls her after him and then starts to unzip the tent, making room for her to get inside.

"We'll get everything soaked," she tells him, then tugs her tank top up over her head, as he fumbles to get his own clothes off, until they're both standing naked in the rain.

He kisses her again, and she takes his hands and puts them on her body, pressing them closer together as he groans at the contact, deepening their kiss so that she knows just how she makes him feel. Until her damp skin feels cold under his touch, and he rubs his hands along the gooseflesh.

"Let's get you warm," he tells her, wrapping his arms around her, and holding the tent open again.

They can hear the wind and the rain hitting the plastic tarp, the storm trying to get inside.

But it can't.

They're safe here, in the dark together.


End file.
